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差不多占总员工的3.5个百分点。
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Finning Canada has laid off 160 salaried staff in Alberta and B.C. as sales of Caterpillar equipment slows in the economic downturn.* E, j9 |) w- f% ]! S2 M" o. ~
* A0 y( o$ b( i8 d: M0 IEvery office and every staff level, from support staff to management, in both provinces were affected, human resources vice-president Miles Hunt said Thursday.
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Twenty-nine people lost their jobs in Edmonton, where Finning Canada has its head office.8 w1 }# h8 n; O4 G5 N
" C, V7 P9 N7 g8 x. W2 z9 e4 V"It's the toughest decision we have to make in our business life, and it's been a hard few days for us," Hunt said.
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It brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.. V8 Q8 }- @# O6 o) k, r7 g
: L+ [2 w. N, Z/ g; ?No hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.; N* i3 n3 G! [0 N
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In fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.$ q) B$ g5 e; x: b4 a; F
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"That's the paradoxical thing. Even though things are changing, Fort McMurray (Alta.) is still growing, and we need more people up there," he said.
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6 |) ?$ i; a4 d1 u( [- n"It's our customers who are going to get us through this, and that's the last place we want to cut."
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- [( y: ?( Q% p& |0 @: B& I. @The recent delays and cancellations of oilsands projects - a major income source for Finning - was not a factor in the layoffs, Hunt said.7 b+ n; f# ~# G" q6 F
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"We're still very busy in the oilsands."5 Q1 t5 v5 i9 `( S/ x
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Hunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.4 W& g2 t' b7 A* c( `' {
8 o4 n4 u9 m# c! y: F+ K9 P- A" aThey will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.
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( O7 Z5 T0 l1 a$ |' V# c; PThe employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said.
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# F- k7 R' @0 e5 [( yMike Waites, CEO of Vancouver-based parent company Finning International Inc., recently lowered the 2008 earnings guidance due to a slowdown in some of its businesses in Western Canada and the United Kingdom.
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1 \* A8 v& L) F7 R6 c' t8 SDemand for new equipment will likely soften and some purchases may be deferred, but that will result in an increase in its parts and service business - Finning's most profitable business - he said.
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) m- h( U4 o' vFinning reported third-quarter net income of $64.8 million compared to $63.6 million for the same quarter last year. Revenues were a record $1.46 billion, compared to $1.33 billion a year before.
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3 P4 l: W7 W2 |Its order backlog has also grown to a new record of $2 billion, dominated by mining equipment, "and provides good revenue visibility for 2009 and into 2010," Waites said. |
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